Thursday, 24 August 2017

The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) yesterday dismissed reports that it has licensed Kwese TV to operate in the country.Reports on the licensing of Kwese TV have gone viral on social media. In a statement yesterday, BAZ chief executive Mr Obert Muganyura said in terms of the Broadcasting Services Act [Chapter 12:06], no person shall provide a broadcasting service in Zimbabwe other than in accordance with a licence issued by BAZ.“The content distribution licence issued to Dr Dish, which was specific to the provision of the My TV Africa Service, as declared by Dr Dish in its application and stated in the terms and conditions of the licence, was cancelled by the authority for failure by Dr Dish to provide the My TV Africa service,” he said.“BAZ therefore wishes to advise the public not to invest in a service that cannot be provided without a licence and warns anyone who may contemplate providing an unlicensed broadcasting service to acquaint themselves with the course of action that the authority is bound to take in terms of the law,” said Mr Maganyura.Some sections of the media reported that Econet Zimbabwe employees were given Kwese TV decoders. They claimed that Government had licensed the pay TV platform owned by Econet Media, a subsidiary of Econet Global to start operations in the country. Lovemore Nyatsine, executive assistant to Econet group chief executive officer was, however, quoted dismissing the claims.“It is still premature for me to comment because there are certain procedures that are being followed. “We are actually not licensed, as in that manner, certain processes need to be done.”Currently, Kwese TV is operating in Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Rwanda and Zambia. Herald